Network-based marketplaces have, with the widespread adoption of Internet technologies, become increasingly popular venues for the buying and selling of goods and services. As more and more sellers turn to network-based marketplaces as an important distribution channel, the need to provide invoicing tools to such sellers has increased.
While a number of traditional invoicing tools (e.g., Quickbooks, developed and distributed by Intuit, Inc.) are typically available to sellers, such invoicing tools are typically independent of a marketplace at which a seller may have established transactions. Accordingly, the seller is required manually to input information relating to transactions for which invoices are to be generated.
In order to make a network-based marketplace more attractive to sellers, there is some incentive for an operator of the network-based marketplace to provide invoicing tools that are tightly integrated with the marketplace, and that can automatically retrieve and include information regarding transactions within invoices. However, the design of such integrated invoicing tools presents a number of technical challenges, specifically regarding how the invoices may be customized to accommodate the unique requirements of a particular transaction and of a particular buyer or seller. Further, a number of technical challenges exist with respect to the automation of invoice generation by such invoicing tools, given the large number of the variables that may be associated with a particular transaction.